To expect pet friendly to mean a dog can go everywhere

[Fluffyelephant]

We arrived yesterday in a holiday house for a family trip that was booked because the place described itself as pet friendly. On arrival though we were presented with very intense written rules regarding dogs - they were in bold and used terms like ‘under absolutely no circumstances with no exception can your dog…’

If we had been told these rules in advance we would never have paid to stay here as they absolutely won’t work for our dog and we know that. The main rule causing issue is that he’s only actually allowed in the living room and part of the hall so 75% of the house is off limits including the stairs. He’s well behaved and good natured and is a breed that doesn’t shed hair. But he’s a clingy breed and follows us around and always sleeps on the floor by our bed otherwise he gets very distressed.

The owners know a dog was coming because we told them and we paid an extra £50. But none of these rules were mentioned. If he caused damage then of course I would pay (as I would if it was caused by a child or adult) but this seems to be rules to preemptively prevent any damage from occurring in the first place.

Last night in an attempt to follow the rules I tried sleeping on the two seat sofa in the living room next to dog but this was horrendous so we just came upstairs. My partner says it’s impossible to relax so we’ll just have to drive gone today!

I feel like places say ‘pet friendly’ to get your money when they actually aren’t at all! AIBU?

This.

OP, charity shops often sell old sheets or duvet covers you could use to cover up any problem areas. It's what we did when we arrived at a genuinely pet friendly place once with three Labradors, and spotted the lovely owner had cream carpets in the lounge. 😱🤣🤣🤣. Normally I'd try to respect the owner's wishes, but they have not behaved reasonably. Try and enjoy your holiday. 😊

Our dog doesn't go upstairs in our own house and wouldn't go in a "smart" living room if we didn't have kids...

Would be absolutely fine with dog being allowed in say utility, kitchen and a snug type area in a holiday rental and no way would I want to stay somewhere that dogs are allowed upstairs.

So do they expect one of people staying in the holiday let to sleep in living room with the dog? Hwo else can the dog never be left alone?

That should definitely been clearly explained.

Stop being such a martyr just let the dog upstairs, clean up after it and leave a review stating the rules.

I don't understand why on earth you would sleep on the sofa!

I don't expect anything these days, so booking is a process similar to what @ThePure describes.

My dogs are allowed on the sofa and upstairs at home (my study is upstairs so that's where we are most of the day when i'm wfh) so trying to teach them something different in a new house is not my idea of a holiday.

So why the bloody hell would you book into dog-friendly accommodation?

Just ignore the rules, how will they know?

Dog not to be left alone in property. No issue. I take him on holiday to be with him.

No dogs on the bed: not an issue my dog does not go on beds

No dogs upstairs doable if you provide the means to stop him ie stair gate or door across stairs but means he will therefore be unsupervised downstairs at night and he will definitely try to get on the sofa. He loves sofas.

No dogs on sofa I can therefore only manage if I can take him upstairs so he can be in our room whilst we sleep.

So it's lesser of two evils basically
Dog downstairs throw on sofa
Or dog in his bed at night but in our room upstairs

Whoever makes these rules needs to think about the practicality of them being enforced which I have found they often don't and if they actually don't want dogs then just say so and I'll choose somewhere else.

I mean holiday cottage owners are allowing dogs to appeal to a bigger market. If I didn't have the dog I'd probably stay in a hotel so it's disingenuous to ostensibly welcome dogs to get the money but in fact make it shit and unworkable. You can get away with it because it's not reliant on repeat business but if I am unimpressed with unworkable rules you'll get a bad review.

Please tell your friends that their cottages are amazing 😍 We stayed in one last summer and I’ve recommended them to people on here looking for suggestions.

Maybe they’ve changed the rules, but I’m fairly certain that at the one we stayed in you were allowed to leave dogs unattended too, so long as you were certain that they wouldn’t get stressed or bark? We didn’t, but it was really nice to have the option if we wanted to pop out somewhere for a couple of hours 😊

It also makes me laugh that most places won't let you leave dogs alone in the house in case of damage but want to insist on you leaving them alone in another room overnight where you're not around to enforce the not on sofa rule.

I have stayed in many holiday cottages, and all the ones that allow pets say not upstairs, on the beds or the sofas.

But these days dogs seem to go everywhere. It’s unnecessary IMO, but I think most people ignore the rules.

I now do my best to avoid a ‘pet friendly’ cottage. The last one was well cleaned and vacuumed but smelt of dog and the air freshener they had tried to hide it with.

In your shoes OP, I would buy a cheap fleece blanket and lay it in the floor and put your dogs bed on it. And not let the dog on the sofa. It’s grim allowing dogs on other people’s sofas.

It's really easy to avoid pet friendly cottages though isn't it? There always seem to be loads of non dog friendly options when I am looking. If you are allergic or hate dogs and think they are grim then it's pretty easy to avoid the whole issue surely?

Some interesting views. So my dogs aren't allowed in our bedrooms. When we go away they certainly wouldn't be allowed to sleep in the bedrooms or come up on sofas. To me dog friendly means that dogs are allowed in the living rooms, but not bedrooms. It's a bit unhygienic to allow dogs to sleep in your bedroom, especially in someone else's or a holiday house.

It's a bit unhygienic to allow dogs to sleep in your bedroom, especially in someone else's or a holiday house.

Can you explain why it's unhygienic for a dog to sleep in its own bed in the bedroom versus the lounge?

I had this problem once. They advertised as dog friendly but dog was only allowed in the snug, with a big sign saying no dog’s beyond this point. My dog is very much like yours so I just ignored it and had no issues.

'Special needs dog?!' Just because OP doesn't dump them in the living room 24/7?! I've heard it all now

Based on holiday type sites it tends to be the cheaper options allow dogs as to not ruin their “prestige” ranges so often those looking for cheaper holidays end up in pet friendly doesn’t mean they want a bed a dog slept in.

What?!

@Barleycat
Not all dogs are smelly
Not all dogs are "slobbery"

Yet you're clearly a fan of smelly, fur-shedding cats! Funny that.

The only reason you posted was to have a nasty dig about dogs in an attempt at hurting dog lovers.

Don't book pet-friendly then if that's such a big problem for you? 🤔

I'd be ignoring it. I have two (small) dogs and they both sleep in bed with me, sleep on the sofa etc. if I was booking a pet friendly place I would expect them to have the run of the house as well.

I don't know anyone who doesn't let their dogs sleep upstairs with them or in their bed tbh.

I generally stay in caravans who are usually
Much more accommodating:

Why are you so scared to live in the house, as you should be able to, and relax.
I think you’re being way too hard on yourself sleeping downstairs and one of you being with the dog all the time.
The owners are in the wrong not making things clear when you booked.
I would ignore the rules and enjoy your holiday. What on earth can the owners do? Please don’t sacrifice your holiday.

Exactly! I hope you said all this in a review (once you'd got your deposit back!!!)

Maybe that person cannot afford a more expensive option so has no option but the cheaper lower range accommodation that allows pets.

I always book the highest non pets so when I do find fur I certainly make a fuss 🤷🏻‍♀️

I can see dogs not being allowed in bedrooms and jumping on beds. But they haven't been very clear before you booked. so I'd say YANBU.